Horatio had been asleep in his tent with two others as the polar bear entered the camp, by knocking over one of the trip wire posts.

Mr Singleton said: "Horatio emerged from his tent and was in the act of standing up when the bear reared up and slammed down on him with its paws pushing Horatio to the ground, where the bear then mauled his head, face and neck."

PA

Team leader Michael Reid

Maninder said: "I could not say who I thought was to blame.

"I could not say it was somebody’s fault, it was just a freak accident.

"Throughout the 80-odd years of them doing these trips it’s never happened before and the chance of it happening again are very slim.

"Given the situation, everyone did the best they could. They did really well in calling for help.

"I think the team leader (Mr Reid) was very brave, especially when he was heavily injured.

They announced the creation of a series of therapy gardens at spinal injury units across the country in his memory.

Mr Chapple is a consultant spinal surgeon at Salisbury Hospital.

The family added: "In the attack Horatio managed to stand despite severe wounds to his head and was seen by witnesses facing the bear, confronting the bear with all that he had, his screaming voice, his empty hands and raised arms."

Mr Reid, from Wapping, East London, told of his frantic battle to shoot the bear. He himself suffered a broken jaw, fractured skull and damage to his eye sockets after the bear attacked him with its teeth and claws. At one point his head was in the animal’s jaws.

Scott Bennell-Smith, another of the young adventurers sharing the same tent as Horatio, described how he was woken by the "shaking of the tent".

He thought someone was trying to wake him. But then the tent was ripped to shreds by the bear.

He sustained head an back injuries when the bear struck out at him.

Patrick Flinders, who was also in the tent, said he curled up into a little ball but sustained a skull fracture when the animal swiped at his head.

Another adventurer, Matthew Burke, who was in a different tent said he sat bolt upright when somebody screamed: "Bear, bear!" He looked out and saw Horatio, dressed only in boxer shorts, being savaged.

Burke told the inquest: "The bear reared up and then slammed itself down on to Horatio, it used its paws and slammed down."